The disclosures herein relate generally to portable computers and more particularly to mounting a CD ROM or digital video disk on the player spindle.
One continuing problem for portable computers is keeping media such as a CD ROM or digital video disk mounted on the player spindle while the system is subjected to shock and vibration. Portable compact disc and digital video players have a manual snap-on device to hold the disk on the spindle. If the media does not stay on the spindle, the player will experience read/write failures or, worse, media damage can occur if the media comes into contact with other stationary components inside the player or system. Methods used to hold the disc are limited because of the small size of portable CD ROM and digital video disk players. The entire player is typically 18 mm thick with only 3.75 mm between the bottom of the media disk and the top of the player assembly.
Currently CD ROM and digital video drives for portable computers use a set of spring loaded tabs to hold the media on the drive spindle. These tabs are pressed out of the way by the media as the media is manually pressed onto the tray. These tabs have to be able to allow the user to mount and remove the media while at the same time preventing the media from moving off the spindle during shock and vibration. These are completely passive tabs that are moved by the media itself when the media is inserted or removed from the drive.
This is not a concern in desktop computers. Because of the larger size of desktop computers, there is room to provide a device for positively engaging and retaining the media on the drive spindle. In portable computer however, there is not enough room to provide such a device. As a result, a user of a desktop computer is only required to place the media in the drive bay without concern for positive engagement of the media with the drive spindle. The user may not be aware that the procedure is different in a portable computer, i.e. verified positive media/spindle engagement is required to avoid damage to the media or read/write failures.
Various other disk retention devices have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,518 discloses a clamp mechanism for clamping an information recording disk such as a compact disk or a video disk to a turntable despite variations in the thicknesses of the disks to be reproduced. The clamp mechanism includes a damper having a magnet retaining member, a ring-like pressing member arranged to abut the information recording disk, and a plate spring member interconnecting the retaining member and the pressing member in such a manner that the retaining member and the pressing member are vertically movable relative to each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,148 discloses a compact disc magazine for a jukebox. This device includes an automatic mechanism for engaging a compact disc at generally diametrically opposite points. The disc is removed from a location adjacent to the top of the magazine through the upper front portion thereof in which a hub mounted. This enables movement around a generally horizontal axis having circumferentially spaced disc-receiving grooves, each of which at the removal location is limited to a segment of a disc below and to the rear of a line passing through the points. A belt extends around the lower part of the magazine for retaining discs in the grooves.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,451 discloses a compact disk player wherein more compact disks can be loaded within a limited space and can be reproduced continuously. A disk setting device on which the disks are placed is arranged as an up-and-down double structure. The disks laid on the disk setting device are lifted up and lowered in conformity with the heights of a disk chuck, a disk clamp and a pick-up driving part. A height compensating device for compensating addresses the problem of the difference in height of the disk setting device in order to accomplish the proper chucking of the disks and reproduction of material recorded on the disks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,097 discloses a container construction for displaying a compact disc for sale and for subsequent storage thereof after purchase by a consumer. The container comprises a base having a storage compartment, a tray pivotally mounted on the base for releasably holding a compact disc, and a lid pivotally mounted on the base for enclosing the tray and disc within the storage compartment of the base to protect the compact disc when not in use after purchase. A locking mechanism is provided to lock the base, lid and tray in a generally flat extended end-to-end relationship for display with the tray being pivoted into the lid so that the compact disc is secure between the lid and tray.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,379, a disk drive mechanism includes a disk clamping apparatus. The disk clamping apparatus includes a clamp having a plurality of clamp jaws movable horizontally, such that the apparatus is compact. The clamp also includes first and second grooves formed according to central hole sizes of the disks to be accommodated on the turntable so that the clamp can be used for both a compact disk and a laser disk.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,934 discloses a clamp mechanism, an adapter, and an optical disc apparatus for compatibly playing back an MD and a CD having different centering hole diameters and reference heights. A first clamp mechanism has a taper cone section for both the MD and CD, while a second clamp mechanism has an MD turntable and a CD clamper which is driven in contact with the MD turntable while clamping the CD. The adapter is a disc which has a hole having the same inner diameter as that of the centering hole of the MD and a thickness of 0.8 mm, the adapter to be attached to the CD. A first optical disc apparatus has an MD spindle motor and a CD spindle motor, and an optical system including an objective lens is arranged on a straight line that connects both spindle motors. A second optical disc apparatus has a spindle motor having an MD turntable and a CD turntable at both its ends.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,938 discloses a device for removably receiving a planar object, in particular a CD, fitted with a central round receiving aperture. The device may be a plate comprising a recess to receive the planar object and a central clamp for the round receiving aperture of the planar object. The receiving plate comprises at least on one side, and in the vicinity of its edge, two mutually spaced boreholes for threading or stacking, for instance when using bar-shaped retainers or ring-binders. The boreholes each communicate through a slot of lesser width than the borehole diameters with the side edge of the receiving plate. Incisions are formed on and near both sides of the slots to form resilient wall portions bounding the slots.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,688 discloses an optical disc clamp mechanism that is capable of selectively playing back either of a compact disc or a mini disc. The clamp mechanism includes a circular disc receiving section for contacting a reference surface of either of the compact disc or the mini disc and further includes a magnetic clamp unit for clamping the mini disc by magnetic attraction with a magnetically attractable member of the mini disc. A first conical or spherical taper cone portion for engaging the center hole of the mini disc is mounted to the disc receiving section, and a second conical or spherical taper cone portion for engaging the center hole of the compact disc is mounted to the disc receiving section. The first taper cone portion is located inwardly of the second taper cone portion and protrudes form the second taper cone portion in the axial direction. The magnetic clamp unit further includes a stopper element for preventing detachment of the first and second taper cone portions from the disc receiving section. Accordingly, the optical disc clamp mechanism independently affects the centering of a mini disc and a compact disc to allow either of the discs to be centered.
Therefore, what is needed is a device for providing a positive engagement with media such as a CD ROM or a digital video disk, to retain the media on the drive spindle in correct orientation within a portable computer, with a capability of withstanding shock and vibration which may otherwise dislodge the media from the spindle.